


there will be no divorce

by novakid



Category: Borderlands
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 18:59:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6389278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novakid/pseuds/novakid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“When was the first time you fell in love with me?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	there will be no divorce

He rubbed his hands together. He looked down at them and stared. Eyeing them carefully. Flexed his fingers. Timothy looked over on his left. Soft raindrops pitter-pattered gently against the window. 

Then, Timothy looked over to his right. Rhys was tapping diligently on his keyboard while looking at the monitor in front of him. Working, of course. Atlas wasn’t going to repair itself, he knew that, but sometimes Timothy worried about Rhys working too hard. 

It all mixed into his ears. The sound of the rain. The typing. His own breathe in his chest. 

Finally, Timothy got up from his spot on the bed and went over, right behind where Rhys was sitting. He ran both hands into the other’s soft hair. 

Rhys looked up from his work, just for a moment, and smiled before returning his attention to the screen. “Mmhm?”

He spoke softly, “Tell me the story of when we first met, please?” 

Rhys stopped his work again and gave Timothy a look. One part bewilderment, another part amusement. He turned halfway in his chair while Tim kept standing up.“Found you in one of my facilities. You were almost dead. Looked absolutely awful.”

Timothy nodded and shrugged. “You too. You had one arm, one eye.”

“At least I had food.”

“Sacs of nothing but fruit is  _ hardly _ food.”

“Shhh, shhh.” Rhys grinned and playfully slapped at the hands which were not rested on his shoulders. Timothy squeezed them and allowed him to continue. “You scared me half to death. I would have kicked you out if you didn’t start sobbing. And you told me you had escaped Hyperion for about two years, living nothing on skag meat. And I felt bad for you. Let you stay around.”

Yeah, Timothy recalled it all. He remembered everything, right down to the details. Rhys knew this. It was a miracle that he was always so patient with his partner with how many times he’d make him tell this story. “Do you remember our first kiss?”

“It was… During? Or the night before we tried to get the generator for the main facility working.”

“During.”

“During.” He nodded. “That’s right. We were trying to turn it on, and we got stuck in the maintenance room. It was dark and cold. While we were huddling together, you kissed me.”

“Ahhh-?  _ You _ kissed me.”

He gave a smug look and shrugged his shoulders. Now, he was turned to face Timothy completely. “So? You kissed me back. Same thing.”

“How about the first time you fell in love with me?”

Rhys took a moment to think. He had a dreamy smile on his face. It never failed to make Tim’s heart throb. He liked hearing this one, because it always changed with each time he told it. Either as if he couldn’t decide, or if there were more than one instance for the occasion. “You were shooting at a rakk so we could eat. It was right above our heads, and I began to cry because it’s blood and… eugh. It fell all over us. But you started to laugh. And so did I.”

Timothy laughed softly and leaned over to wrap his arms around Rhys’ middle. With ease, he lifted his partner up out of the chair and pulled him to his chest. He easily carried him to the bed, only a few feet away. They dropped onto it together, face to face, laughing softly.

There, they held each other. 

Softly, Rhys murmured, “When was the first time you fell in love with me?”

By then, Timothy had buried his face into Rhys’ hair. He had to forcefully will himself to pull his head away. “The first time you smiled because of me.” 

The memory had taken place almost a year after the Helios crashing. A year after Rhys had found Timothy. He knew, of course, it wasn’t easy at all for Rhys to have to deal with someone who had the same face as his tormentor. He went easy on Timothy, sure. They understood each other. They shared the same demons. But that didn’t mean it was any easier to look him in the eye. In fact, Rhys couldn’t look at his face until after four months of working together. When he finally had, Timothy remembered the glances full of grief. Anger. Sadness. Regret. Pain. 

The moment Rhys smiled because of some dumb joke Timothy made? That was what made him fall head over heels in love with him. 

Timothy didn’t need to elaborate. Rhys remembered. And he understood. 

There, they kissed each other. 

To the sound of the rain hitting harder on the roof of their Atlas building. To the sound of their gentle breathing. To the sound of their hearts thumping tight in their chest. 

They touched each other with utmost gentleness, nothing that Timothy had ever experienced his whole life. 

Then, Rhys looked up at him with two beautiful, glimmering eyes. “Hey.”

“Hey.” 

There was a pause. Rhys looked down to his cybernetic arm. Pressed a button. A compartment open. He took a ring out. “Will you uh, marry me?”

No amount of tears or laughter could express how happy Timothy was. 

There, they loved together. 

**Author's Note:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alQ8ZyJXTI0


End file.
